1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a fodder-feeding disc wire driving device having a tension management unit. More particularly, the present invention relates to a fodder-feeding disc wire driving device having a tension management unit that can determine when repair and maintenance are needed, and can adjust tension of the disc wire conveying fodder by allowing an operator to visually check the moving distance of an idle wheel by naked eye.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, when poultry are raised on a large scale in livestock housings, there is a shortage of manpower to manually feed fodder to the livestock, and thus labor cost increases. Accordingly, an automated fodder feeder unit is required.
To meet the need mentioned above, an automatic poultry feeder is supplied to a poultry shed. The automatic poultry feeder is a device for automatically feeding fodder to the poultry to reduce labor cost, and is arranged at multiple predetermined positions. The automatic poultry feeder may be constructed in various types such as a chain type, a disc wire type, a screw type, and a suspension type feeder.
As an example, a system for automatically feeding poultry fodder is shown in FIG. 1 as a basic technical matter disclosed in Patent Document 1.
The configuration and operation of the system are described here. Fodder is stored in a fodder storage tank 10, and the fodder is discharged from the fodder storage tank 10 by a hopper 20, which is attached to the lower part of the fodder storage tank 10. Here, the exit of the hopper 20 is connected to a conveying pipeline 30 that includes multiple conveying pipes consecutively connected to each other and arranged at positions where the fodder is required. Then, a last conveying pipe of the conveying pipeline 30 is connected to the entrance of the hopper 20 outside of a shed 70. Accordingly, the conveying pipeline is configured in a closed curve. Here, at corners where the conveying pipeline 30 changes direction, a corner wheel 31 is used to connect the conveying pipes of the pipeline 30 such that the fodder can be efficiently conveyed. Further, after fodder is stored in multiple fodder measurement boxes 50 installed in the shed 70, a predetermined amount of the fodder is conveyed to respective fodder containers 60.
Here, a wire 41 lies in the conveying pipes of the pipeline 30 in longitudinal directions of the conveying pipes throughout the conveying pipeline 30, and discs 43 are fixed on a disc wire 40 conveying fodder and at regular intervals in longitudinal directions of the wire 41. The discs 43 push and convey the fodder when the disc wire 40 moves ahead through the inside of the conveying pipeline 30.
In addition, the wire 41 is driven by a driving device 100. The driving device 100 is driven by a well-known deceleration motor powered by electric power, and the driving force of the deceleration motor is transmitted to a drive sprocket 120 located in the driving device 100. When the driving force drives the drive sprocket 120 to rotate, the discs 43 of the wire 41, which are introduced into the driving device 100 through a disc wire inlet of the driving device 100, move while periodically engaging with protrusions of the drive sprocket 120, formed on the circumference of the drive sprocket 120 in radial directions, thereby moving the entirety of the wire 41. The wire 41 departing from the drive sprocket 120 is guided by an outer circumferential surface of an idle wheel 130 and is discharged from the driving device through a disc wire outlet of the driving device 100. Then, the wire 41 is introduced into the hopper 20. Accordingly, by passing through the entire length of the inside of the conveying pipeline 30 configured in a closed curve, the wire conveys the fodder, supplied by the hopper 20, to the place where the fodder is required.
Though such an automatic poultry feeder has been proposed in various structures and ways, as disclosed in Patent Document 2, an automatic poultry feeder widely used in recent years is configured in such a manner that fodder can be supplied by the disc wire 40 circulating in the pipeline 30.
Meanwhile, for another example disclosed in Patent Document 2, a driving device 100 includes a motor and a drive sprocket 120. Here, the motor produces a rotational force to drive a disc wire 40, and the drive sprocket 120 is rotated by the rotational force of the motor, pulling and moving the disc wire 40 forward.
However, in Patent Document 2, since the entire length of the disc wire 40 is very long, strong tension is generated in the disc wire during the movement thereof. Accordingly, when the disc wire 40 is used for a long period, the length of the disc wire 40 increases, and thus when compared to a new disc wire, the disc wire becomes weak in the transmission of driving force, or the disc wire slips from the drive sprocket 120. Accordingly, the disc wire 40 stops its operation, or the discs 43 of the disc wire become tangled, thus overloading the motor, which may break the motor and lead to a fire.
That is, as the entire length of the disc wire 40 increases, the disc wire 40 partially slips from the drive sprocket 120, and thus the disc wire 40 becomes tangled with the drive sprocket 120 and is disconnected, or the discs 43 of the disc wire 40 are damaged or broken, thereby causing malfunction of the driving device 10 and interrupting fodder feeding. To prevent the above-mentioned issues, a stockbreeder has to frequently check the appearance of the driving device by naked eye, and when the elongation of the disc wire occurs, the stockbreeder must cut away the elongated part of the disc wire to maintain the tension thereof.
Accordingly, to identify the elongated part of the disc wire, the stockbreeder is required to remove a cover of the driving device to check the inside of the driving device. Due to such inconvenience, the stockbreeder may not repair the wire timely, and thus damage or breakage of the driving device may frequently occur or the driving device may catch fire.
The foregoing is intended merely to aid in the understanding of the background of the present invention, and is not intended to mean that the present invention falls within the purview of the related art that is already known to those skilled in the art.